hey there

hi, i'm krysta and welcome to my blog... evil chef mom. if you want to know how i came up with such a ridiculous name for a blog click here. anyways... this is a sometimes blog. sometimes it's about food, sometimes it's about crazy ludicrous things that seem to only happen to me, sometimes it's about family. i post about whatever pops into my addled wacked out adhd brain [oh hey! look it's a squirrel!]. if you want to join the crazy train... hop aboard and keep reading. don't say i never warned you!

4/13/10

Which is saying something because this last week was crazy-flaming-toads-on- a-pogo-stick-busy. I am surprised anything at all stayed on my brain. And since it was so crazy busy... bonus points for this dish taking all of maybe 30 minutes to cook. I swear it took under 20 but I don't really remember because of that flaming toads on a pogo stick thing I just mentioned.

Game Show Time: You are at the grocery store and are standing in the middle of the aisle debating which kind of rice noodles to get. Do you get the noodles that have the friendly American packaging and the American price of 4 dollars? Or do you get the cheap ones with instructions in Thai for the price of 1 dollar? Hmmm, which ones are better? American and friendly? Or cheap and in cooking instructions in Thai? The more expensive ones are better, right? You get what you pay for, right?

Wrong, Little Johnny! You get the cheap ones with the cooking instructions in Thai!

Bring a medium pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the noodles, lower the heat to a gentle simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are just tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a colander and run under cold water to cool slightly. Drain well.

In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, sugar, soy sauce, and fish sauce; set aside.

In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with 1 Tbs. of the oil, the coriander, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and 1/4 tsp. salt.

Heat the remaining 2 Tbs. oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering hot. Add the red pepper, jalapeno, and shallot, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, until it turns pink and is almost cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add the lime juice mixture and cook, stirring, until the shrimp is cooked through, about 1 minute more. Add the noodles and half of the cilantro; toss until the noodles heat through and pick up the sauce, 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve sprinkled with the remaining cilantro, with the lime wedges on the side for squeezing.

Tasting Notes: So good... the food itself was colorful, the shrimp were buttery and tender, and the noodles were the right texture (yay me for going with scary cheap noodles with cooking instructions in Thai!) If you are worried about the jalapenos, they didn't add too much heat. Matter of fact, I would have preferred a little bit more spiciness but that can be remedied with a little more jalapeno or a bit of sriracha added at the end.

Mmmmm, great shrimp/cilantro minds...my shrimp and cilantro will take the form of the wet thai green curry paste i made up on Sunday with coconut milk and some eggplant added in. And I don't have soba, but I do have basmati.

hey krysta! i made this tonight and it was really gooood. my husband told me about 4 times how much he liked it. score! also, i'm going to post it on my blog tonight=) just want to double check on something-your recipe states 6 oz of the noodles. i bought a package that was 16 oz and thought maybe you forgot the 1 in front of the 6??

hey cassie, i used 12 ounces of noodles because i doubled the recipe... i normally double most recipes i post because well 4 kids, 2 of them teenage boys, i have to double the recipe. but the original recipe calls for 6 ounces... hope that helps.

ohhhh, ok so what you have listed here is the regular recipe and you doubled everything? (sorry if I'm a bit slow) The only thing I felt was a little off about the recipe was there wasn't enough sauce-duh, because I didn't MAKE enough sauce. I used 16 oz of noodles and the listed amounts of everything else. Still tasted great though! ok, cook, I'll make it the RIGHT way next time. Thanks for getting back to me :)